During creation, Adam and Eve were made in the image of God, and they were connected with God. Scripture described how they walked and talked with God. There was no fear. They shared an intimate connection with God, and they benefited greatly from this connection. They were secure, and God fed and sustained them.
They were significant. God loved them and they belonged to God. God called them and gave them His purpose. They were accepted and God blessed them.
When Adam and Eve rebelled against God and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, this divine connection with God was destroyed. All of a sudden, Adam and Eve’s innate security was replaced with fear. Their significance was replaced with guilt and shame. Their acceptance was replaced with rejection. Now they were alive in condemnation. Their connection with God was broken. It was no longer automatic. Now it was a choice.
Real love can’t be forced. It must be chosen. God could have programmed us and forced us to love and obey Him, but that wouldn’t be real love. In order for us to genuinely love God, He had to give us a choice. This is still true today.
In Genesis 1-3, we see that man has a problem called sin. But God has a plan named Jesus. And you and I have a choice. We have a choice whether or not we will accept God, repent of our sin, and trust Jesus to forgive our sins. Love is a choice. Obedience is a choice. Pursuing God’s presence is a choice.
When Adam and Eve rebelled against God, what they lost was the presence of God. They didn’t die physically. Instead, they died spiritually. They were no longer automatically connected with the presence of God. Since Genesis 3, mankind has had a choice of whether or not to passionately pursue the presence of God. Every one of us born since Adam and Eve are born disconnected from God. His presence is no longer guaranteed; God’s presence is not automatic.
Every single one of us has a choice. We can either live without the presence of God or we can choose to live in the presence of God. We can acknowledge God in all our ways (Proverbs 3:6) or we can depend on our own understanding. God can be the source of every guidance we need for life and business, or we can choose not to look to God for guidance. God can be the source of our provisions or we can choose to depend on what we can produce instead.
In order to live in the presence of God we have to accept God’s way of restoring His presence in our lives. God requires us to deal with our sin problem. The problem of sin is that it keeps us from a holy and righteous God.
When Adam and Eve sinned against God, He didn’t exchange His love for hate — God still loved Adam and Eve. He hated their rebellion and their sin. Through forgiveness, God separated Adam and Eve from their sin (Psalm 103:12). He offers us that same forgiveness.
Everyone born since Adam and Eve is born identified by sin instead of by the presence of God. Romans 3:23 says, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard,” (NLT). Sin is a huge problem, one that keeps us from God’s presence. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord,” (NLT). God requires you and I to be forgiven for our sin.
You are forgiven as you agree with God that you are a sinner in need of a Savior. That is where we derive the question, “Are you saved?” The Bible calls it salvation. Bringing all the Scriptures I’ve given you together, we see that every one of us are born with a huge problem called sin that keeps us from being connected with a holy God. Fortunately, God so loves us that He gave His one and only son, Jesus, to die on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins.
The bad news is that something must die because of sin. The good news is it doesn’t have to be you or me. In Romans 6:10 (NLT), Scripture says, “When Jesus died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God.”
All this happened just as Scripture said. Jesus came from heaven to earth for the sole purpose of dying for the forgiveness of your sin and my sin. He lived on earth for thirty-three years. He died a horrible death by being crucified on a cross. Three days later He rose again from the dead, proving that He alone holds the keys to life and death. That is how He is able to offer us eternal life. This fulfills what we read earlier in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Now we have a choice. You have a choice. John 1:12 (NIV) says, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” You can decide to receive Him or not. We receive Him by praying what has become known as the “sinner’s prayer”:
Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. In Your Name. Amen.
The whole point of this prayer is the presence of God. God’s gift is His presence. It isn’t fire insurance or a title. His gift is His presence.
I hope you have prayed that prayer before. I hope it represents the posture of your heart. If you have not prayed this prayer before, then choose now to pray it. Choose now to receive the presence of God in your life.
Have you ever gotten to the point?
From the very beginning, God’s whole point has been to give you His presence. God knows that every guidance and provision you will ever need can be found today in His presence.
The choice is yours.
ABOUT ME:
I’m an international speaker and bestselling author of Audacious Generosity and Get to The Point. I love helping people everywhere to prosper in God’s presence.
As a serial entrepreneur, I’ve helped start hundreds of businesses, nonprofits and churches. As Founder/Executive Director of Global Hope India, I have traveled over 1 million miles to 27 different countries speaking to thousands of audiences throughout India and the world.
In addition to leading Global Hope India full-time, I’m CEO of Spirit Media. We help globally recognized, prophetic thought leaders to package their content into books and publish them worldwide for global reach. Visit https://spiritmedia.us for full details. Let’s get you published!
Visit kevinwhite.us for my books, 1 minute motivation series, podcasts, and services. You’ll also find videos, slides, and transcripts from previous keynote messages such as:
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Me and my wife, Shelly, are high school sweethearts who have been married for 34 years. We have three adult children and one granddaughter. Shelly and I live in Cary, North Carolina.
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